


Barons and Fire Spirits

by CalicoPudding



Series: Law of the Land [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Backstory, Barons, Birds, Blood, Bloodlust, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Crying, Denial, It's minor, Knights - Freeform, Magic, Scratching, Spirits, Swords, apothecary! Kenma, bird messaging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 12:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8328580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalicoPudding/pseuds/CalicoPudding
Summary: Kuroo doesn’t like the idea, doesn’t like the thought that there’s some kind of spirit component. There’s too many unknowns with spirits, no one knows much. The Crow District has the majority of the lore, and records dating back lifetimes, but no one has actually sat down with spirits.
And any partials that may live among them aren’t going to say anything.
Kenma has to make something, composed of apparently illegal contraband, to combat a magical condition that they have no concrete knowledge about. Just great.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had a four hour test period today and this was only supposed to be seven hundred words max, but here we are. Enjoy!

One stray comment, he hadn’t even heard all of it, he just knows that it was negative, and directed at Kenma.

The smaller boy had opted to wait for him at the corridor entry to the training grounds, as opposed to the front of the Stay wall like he usually would. Kenma doesn’t train with the rest of them, he’s taken on the role of the apothecary’s apprentice instead. He doesn’t wait for Kuroo often, just when it’s slow in the workshop.

Kenma’s biting his lip, wringing his hands, they’re the only sign Kuroo has that what was said is actually bothering the boy.

Kenma’s fairly good at ignoring people, letting insults roll right off him without issue. The other trainees, sons of generals and advisors, have teased him since he abysmally failed the initiation. Kenma’s father is a commanding general, near legendary. His mother was a drifter, someone from another Stay, someone unknown. She’d brought Kenma, only three years old at the time, to his father, and died of a sickness shortly after.

It has all culminated into a veritable jackpot of insults.

Kuroo doesn’t think. He’s twelve, with a wooden practice sword and the rough edged skills to handle it.

“Take it back,” he says, shifting his grip on the sword handle.

“No, it’s true, why should I?”

The other boy barely gets his sword up to block the strike. Kuroo keeps coming, swing after swing before he abandons his sword in favor of tackling the boy to the ground.

“Tetsurou!”

Faintly, he can hear Kenma, but he forgets that when a fist connects with his jaw. 

The other boy is fighting back, which is good, it’ll stem any lingering doubt Kuroo might have later. Kuroo’s prepared to elbow him in the face when a pair of arms loop around his waist from behind.

The head instructor, an aging man named Nekomata, doesn’t look very pleased, and neither does Instructor Naoi, who has taken hold of the other boy.

Kuroo looks past them, finding Kenma’s frightened gaze. It’s enough to snap him back to some semblance of himself, and he stops fighting against Nekomata. 

Under their Instructors’ orders, Kuroo and the boy do nothing but intensive drilling for a month. Kuroo’s the Baron’s heir, he can’t afford to be so immature.

No one thinks much of the outburst though, he’s young, and devoted to Kenma, and it doesn’t happen again.

* * *

Kuroo finds Kenma in the apothecary’s workshop after dark.

“Your hand,” Kenma says when the door opens, his bright eyes immediately drawn to the bruises and blood decorating Kuroo’s knuckles.

“I punched a tree,” he says easily, sitting down on a stool. 

Kenma sighs and crouches behind a different table, rummaging about before returning to Kuroo with bandages and few jars of unidentifiable substances.

“Give it here.” Kenma tears a small strip from the bandage roll and soaks it in the shallow basin of water already on the table. Kuroo does as instructed, and Kenma begins wiping away the blood. He cleans the cuts, ignoring Kuroo’s occasional wincing with practiced indifference.

When the cuts are clean to Kenma’s standards, he begins his work in earnest.

It’s more than a little captivating watching Kenma work. Kuroo’s mother was a botanist, she’d taught him all about plant properties and healing capabilities. He knows more than enough to understand what Kenma is doing, but there’s always something a bit different. Very rarely does Kenma do anything by fact, and he creates as he goes. 

Kuroo watches as he opens the jars and reaches across the table for the mortar and pestle. After a few of creating, Kenma has a blue paste prepared. He scoops some of it onto his fingers and rubs it over Kuroo’s knuckles. It stings for a moment before an icy chill spreads over his hand. 

Kenma bandages him up and wipes the paste from his fingers.

“Thanks.”

Kenma just nods before he begins to clean up. 

Once he’s finished, they head home.

Kenma’s home anyways.

Kuroo likes it there, it’s quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of the Stay. Despite Kenma’s father’s ranking, he’d opted for peace and quiet after nearly a year of cannon fire overseas.

Technically, Kuroo’s supposed to stay with the other trainees at the barracks, but he rarely stays there. Besides, Kenma’s father is rarely home, so it’s not like he’ll get in trouble.

* * *

They’re in trouble.

Two days spent tracking an enemy scout team and they’ve only just realized their folly. 

Kuroo draws his swords, feeling a fire spark to life in his stomach. Bokuto claps his hand to Kuroo’s shoulder and grins. He’s only been General for a year now, if they can land this, no one’s going to question his position.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Of course.”

Fukunaga lets loose a crossbow bolt into the branches of the surrounding trees, where he can see the faintest snatch of color from a cloak. Not a moment later, Konoha follows suit, the deep  _ thwack _ of his long bow sounds seconds before two bodies drop from the trees.

Then it’s hell.

Kuroo’s running on instinct, separating his enemies from his friends by their uniforms. Fukunaga and Konoha take out the enemy archers, Onaga is with Yaku, making sure their escape is clear. Faintly, he can hear Bokuto shouting orders behind him. 

He doesn’t have to think about his motions, swings his swords is as easy as breathing, and he stops thinking completely after a while. His blades flash down, creating shallow wounds so he can continue fighting his opponents for longer. It’s never been this enjoyable before. He’s never liked the warm spray of blood blossoming across his skin as his enemies fall. 

But it’s exhilarating now.

A hand falls to his shoulder and his swords come up like a knee jerk reaction.

Bokuto is skilled enough to block the strike, and Kuroo’s left staring dazedly at the concern on his friend’s face.

“You okay?” Bokuto asks, slowly lowering his weapon.

Kuroo blinks, nodding as he comes back to himself. His swords fall to the ground as his hands go lax. The exhaustion hits him all at once, radiating heavy from his shoulders, burning through his arms. He stumbles, and Bokuto catches him with ease.

“That’s what happens when you try to take out an entire squadron by yourself.” Bokuto’s laugh is forced, little more than a huff of air wrestled past his teeth, but Kuroo does the same before promptly falling unconscious.

When he comes to, he’s slumped in his saddle.

The first thing he notices is the ropes keeping him tied, keeping him upright. Next he sees Yaku, riding beside him. Kuroo’s reins lead to Yaku’s saddle, slipped through an extra loop so the field medic won’t have to hold it.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asks, sleep clumsy fingers attempting to undo the knots crisscrossing his legs.

“Don’t know exactly, they should be near the divide by now, I think,” Yaku says easily.

“What? Where are we then?”

“About a half day from home.”

“Why?”

Kuroo’s not getting anywhere with the knots, so he takes a moment. If they’re a half day from home, he’s been unconscious for nearly two days, maybe a little less if if it’s just him and Yaku.

“General Bokuto wants you in the infirmary.”

“I’m fine,” Kuroo insists.

“He’s concerned, I am too. It’s like you were in a trance, Tetsurou, something happened to your eyes.” 

Yaku reins in his horse, slowing from a trot to a full stop. He undoes the knots and gives Kuroo back the reins to his horse.

“It’s for the best.”

* * *

When they get back to the Stay, Kenma’s waiting for them.

“Bokuto sent a bird,” he says, “I told Kai not to tell anyone else,” he says.

“Nothing’s wrong with me, I’m not sick.” Kuroo sounds like he’s trying to convince himself more so than he is Kenma.

Nevertheless, he accepts Kenma’s hand and follows him to a cot. Yaku gets to work with simple diagnostics, and once he’s tended to Kuroo’s minor injuries, he pulls Kenma aside. The two converse in hushed whispers for far longer than Kuroo thinks is necessary.

Kenma gives him a fleeting glance before he rushes from the infirmary, out a side door, and into the corridor. 

“What’s going on?”

Yaku sits on the cot opposite him and takes a breath.

“It sounds a lot like bloodlust,” he says after a moment.”

“Bloodlust?”

“Uncontrollable rage, tunnel vision, excessive violence when engaged in combat, inability to distinguish friend from foe.” Yaku rubs at his neck. “A long time ago, soldiers used to hunt fire spirits and they used the blood before battles. It was believed to boost their fighting ability. It was kind of true, it more or less turned them into weapons for a given period of time.”

“I’ve never-”

“I know. But it’s possible to have traces of it though, either because of a spirit somewhere in your family history, or something else. It’s the only thing I can think of, and Kenma agrees.”

“Yaku, that’s impossible! How could-”

“You almost attacked Bokuto. If he didn’t have the skills that he does, you would have seriously injured him.”

“That was just- I was still involved in the fight, that’s all it was!”

“Your eyes were red! It looked like your irises were melting. That can’t be explained by anything else!”

At that moment, Kenma returns, carrying a few old books.

“About the eyes,” he begins, “Azumane has a surplus of books about spirits. I borrowed some a while back.” 

Kenma sits down on the floor, setting down the books. He takes a moment to flip through them until he finds what he wants.

“Your eyes changed; some of the lore claims that when fire spirits fought, they could ignite their bloodlust. Their eyes changed until they were entirely red, no black or other color. It sounds like a more extreme version of what Yaku described.” Kenma’s voice is indifferent for the most part, Kuroo can detect the faint waver but he elects to say nothing when Kenma hands him the book. 

“It would be for the best if you don’t go on any expeditions until I can make something to combat this. I’ll need to send a bird for Shouyou and Yachi first.”

“Why?” Yaku asks.

“Yachi knows a few illegal plant smugglers, they have some of the items I’ll need. Shouyou can smuggle them in with his canvases when he comes to deliver the maps we commissioned.”

“Do you do this often?”

“Of course not.”

Yaku isn’t entirely sure if Kenma is being truthful or not.

“What is this combatant supposed to do?” Kuroo asks, putting down the book. 

“Quell the bloodlust so you can fight with control as usual.”

Kuroo doesn’t like the idea, doesn’t like the thought that there’s some kind of spirit component. There’s too many unknowns with spirits, no one knows much. The Crow District has the majority of the lore, and records dating back lifetimes, but no one has actually sat down with spirits. 

And any partials that may live among them aren’t going to say anything.

Kenma has to make something, composed of apparently illegal contraband, to combat a magical condition that they have no concrete knowledge about. Just great.

But he nods anyways.

“This can’t get out,” Kuroo says.

“Agreed. However, Bokuto has to know, Sawamura as well, and likely their healers,” Yaku says.

“Why?”

“They’re the ones you fight with, they’ll need to know just in case Kenma’s solution doesn’t work.”

Kenma looks mildly affronted that Yaku would even suggest his failure, but he doesn’t say anything.

They sit in awkward silence before Yaku lets out a heavy sigh.

“I’ll send a bird for Bokuto, let him know that you’re all right.”

Once he’s gone, Kenma begins picking up the books. He manages to hold them to his chest with one arm, and uses his free hand to grab Kuroo by his bicep. Kenma has since moved into the Stay, and Kuroo follows him through the halls until they reach his room.

“Window,” Kenma mumbles, giving Kuroo a gentle nudge before he turns to put away his books. 

He hears the rustle of pillows, and the whisper of a blanket, so he figures that Kuroo is settling down.

“I can send a bird for Shouyou-” Kenma cuts himself off when he sees Kuroo nervously scratching at his forearms. “Tetsurou.”

Kenma moves to sit beside him, taking his hands to stop him damaging his skin further,

“What if people find out?” Kuroo whispers. “What if they find out that I’ve got some insane condition that makes me kill people? I’m the Baron, Kenma, I can’t-”

“That’s not what it is,” Kenma cuts in.

“How is it not? I almost hurt Bokuto, and I didn’t even know it! I don’t think I even cared.” Kuroo’s crying now, he’s sure of it, but he’s numb, there could easily be another explanation for why his cheeks are wet and his eyes are burning.

Kenma squeezes his hands.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t ever happen again. You’ll be back to fighting without issue, I swear. Until then, you can work with Akaashi, or help me in the workshop.” Kenma’s voice is soft, his eyes fixed on their hands.

“Kenma-”

“I swear it. It won’t happen ever again.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in too deep with my own AU, how does that even happen. Anyhow, here's Kuroo's backstory, complete with the instances mentioned in Bloodust, plus a tree punching injury because why not?   
> If you've got any questions, about this or the AU in general, please ask! I've gotten a few so far that I'm going to work into a short, but if there's anything you're wondering, let me know and I'll write it up!


End file.
